Fairy Tale Nights
by Raven's Favorite Emotion
Summary: Those nights with her were magical- almost like a fairy tale. An Aqualad/Terra story.


**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters seen here. I also don't own the song **_**The Saltwater Room **_**by Owl City, which inspired this story a bit. Go listen to it, if you wish! **

**Dedication: This is dedicated to my friend iscreamdrizzle who kind of beta read this story, but not really… Basically I cornered her in study hall (because she's a friend in real life) and asked her if this story was worth publishing. So thanks buddy! (If you read Naturto fics, which I don't that often, by the way, she writes them and they're pretty awesome so go check them out!) **

_Fairy Tale Nights_

_A One-Shot_

The first time that he saw her she looked like she was searching for something.

He wasn't sure what it was exactly that she was looking for, but she was looking for something, that much was obvious. Her eyes scanned the horizon with urgency and she was stiff and rigid. She was standing up and suddenly sat back down, wrapping her arms around her legs.

Aqualad was startled to see this strange girl at the Titan's Tower; he had thought that their security had been tighter than that. But then again _he _was there uninvited too, so he really had no reason to wonder about this girl.

She was very pretty, he noticed. She had long blonde hair and big eyes that even while they looked anxious he could still tell that they were pretty. It was too dark, however, to see what color they were.

He had no idea who she was. For all he knew she could have been a fan girl, even though it did seem a bit extreme to him for a fan to be at Titan's Tower this time of night. It was eleven o' clock at least.

When she noticed him her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice suspicious. He wasn't surprised to see her reaction. After all he was thinking the same thing about her.

He was actually here to just see the team. He hadn't visited in a while and he was longing for some kind of human company. He had Tramm, of course, but it certainly wasn't the same thing. He just hadn't realized it would have taken him to swim to the Tower and had left later than he probably should have.

"I'm here to visit the Teen Titans. Who are you?"

"I'm Terra. I'm a Teen Titan. I don't know who _you _are though. So, who are you?"

"I'm Aqualad, a _honorary _Teen Titan. I don't know who you are either, though. I guess I met the other Titans before you joined the team…?" His words trailed off, which left her to fill in the blanks.

"Probably." Terra's face quirked into a mirthless smile. "I just rejoined the team a few days ago."

"Rejoined?" His voice was full of disapproval. He didn't approve of people deserting others, unless they had good reason to, which may have happened if she had to rejoin the team.

"Well… I was part of the team before, but then there was a misunderstanding of sorts and I quit, but I came back and decided that I was actually in the wrong and that they didn't do anything really. So I came back, and they let me back on with open arms."

"Why'd you leave?" Aqualad was shocked that he had just asked the question, he was normally a pretty well mannered guy, but he wanted to know more about Terra. She was a compelling person, charisma surrounded her even when she wasn't doing anything more interesting than just sitting while he looked down at her.

Terra shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. The past is just the past, right?"

"Right, I guess," he replied.

"Sit down," she commanded. "I want to know more about you." She smiled warmly at him and he felt an involuntary smile curving his lips as well.

Aqualad was surprised by how quickly he complied. He sat down an easy distance away from her. Not far away enough that she would get the impression that he thought that she smelled bad or something, but not too close.

He felt comfortable around her, even more comfortable than he felt around anyone, even the other Titans, which was saying something. She just seemed to radiate warmth. He could finally see the color of her eyes in the moonlight. They were a dark blue.

"There's really not that much to tell, actually."

"Sure there is. If there's one thing that I learned in my time with the Titans is that every superhero has a story."

"Well… I'm from Atlantis. I guess that's kind of cool for you land dwellers?" Aqualad tacked the last bit on at the end quickly. He didn't really see how being from Atlantis was 'cool' in any way, but he wasn't sure what else to tell her. Who cared that he lived in a cove with a being from Atlantis that could fix all things mechanical?

"Atlantis?" Terra sounded awed. "No way! Like that underwater city? What's it like there?" Aqualad liked seeing the eagerness on her face. It made him feel like he could tell her anything.

"Well," he started. "It's very… wet." She laughed.

"I just can't see that."

"It really is," he smirked, and then continued telling her everything that he could remember about Atlantis, everything that came to mind. She listened to him like he was telling her the best story in the world, and to be honest he kind of liked the attention. He wasn't used to girls just wanting to _listen _to him. He had a lot to tell.

"You worked with Aquaman? What was that like?" she asked after he was done telling her everything that he could about Atlantis, and had mentioned Aquaman briefly. She latched on to this as fast as she could.

"I didn't like it," he admitted. "I mean at first everything was okay, but then…" Aqualad sighed. "I just don't know. We started getting into disagreements and then I found out that he knew who my dad was and he didn't even think about telling me. He said he was just trying to protect me, or whatever, but it didn't seem like it at the time. We went our separate ways after that."

Terra pursed her lips. "Who was your dad?"

"He was a very powerful man in Atlantis, and my mother wasn't. She was a servant, and they had an affair, which produced me. He's never even seen me. I've seen him. It was from a distance, though." Aqualad was just shocked by how much he was telling this girl. They were practically strangers, but it just didn't feel like that. He felt like he had known her forever, which could be a dangerous thing for him if he happened to say too much.

"I've never really met my dad either, to tell you the truth," Terra admitted. "My dad is the king of Markovia. Maybe you've heard of it?" Aqualad nodded. "Yeah, well, my mother was one of the ladies in waiting or whatever you want to call it to the queen, and they fell in love or something. And then I popped out and mom moved to America because the queen was royally pissed, to say the least."

"So you're a princess?"

"No, I'm technically a bastard. But I guess that you could call me a princess if you can call yourself a prince? I mean, we pretty much have the same sort of background if you look closely enough."

Aqualad shrugged. "I guess I'm something like that. Not really, though, but something."

"So once upon the time a handsome prince and a beautiful princess, both of which weren't really a prince and a princess at all but they could have been if their fathers had allowed it, met one full mooned night on the beach. They both felt like they had known each other forever and…" Terra paused. "I'm not really sure how the story is supposed to go after that."

"I guess it could go anyway that we wanted it to," Aqualad smiled the first real smile that he had smiled in a while. "It's our story after all." He stood up and was about to tell her that he was going to go back home. Even though it felt like only fifteen minutes had passed the faint colors of the dawn were approaching and Tramm would be worried if he didn't come back before he woke up. He could tell that she knew this, because she stood up too.

"So are you coming tomorrow night?" she asked.

"What's it to you?" A look of shock crossed Terra's face, but when she saw the look in his eyes and the corners of his mouth struggling to not to be pulled into a large grin, she smirked.

"I don't know. The story might be ruined, though, if the prince doesn't show up. It'd get boring. No one wants to have a boring fairy tale in their book do they?"

"So that's what we are? A fairy tale?"

"If you want us to be." Her face took on a desperate look. "You are coming back, though, right?"

"Yeah. I'll come back tomorrow night. Unless you want me to come during the day."

A look of panic came into her eyes when she answered. "Nah. The story would be a lot more interesting if the princess didn't have to share the prince." Underneath her words there was another meaning: _I want this to just be something between us. I like being alone with you_.

Aqualad got the message loud and clear, and found himself wanting that too. "Yeah, I'll be here. Same time and place?"

"Same time and place," she agreed.

So he came. Night after night for three months he left his home and swam to Terra at the Tower. None of the other Titans joined them and that was just fine with him.

They would often talk about themselves or some other important things, but they had also once had a whole conversation about soybeans, for some reason that Aqualad couldn't think of.

Aqualad couldn't remember a time when he had ever felt this close to another person. He had always been reserved and closed off, rarely saying anything about himself that wasn't absolutely necessary. But with Terra the words slipped from his lips of their own accord and he felt like she understood.

She knew what it was like to have your father not want you. She knew what it was like to have to leave your home. She just understood. He had never met someone who could empathize with him like this before.

He knew things about her too, she was as open with him as he was with her, or at least that's how he thought about it. He wasn't the only one that was giving away parts of himself, he could feel that. Sometimes she talked about the other Titans.

"Everyone's great. Really, they are," she would say. "I'm kind of worried about Beast Boy, though." Terra sighed.

"Why?"

"Because I think that he likes me more than he probably should. We're really good friends, I'm closer to him than I am to the others, but I don't think that he would _get _it. Not like you, Aqualad."

When she told him that he could feel his face flush and for not the first time he was grateful for the dark. "He's a really good friend, and I'm flattered," she continued, "but I just don't feel like that about him. I wouldn't be good for him anyway."

"Why would you say that about yourself?" Aqualad asked her. She was forever saying things like this about herself, but she would elaborate when he asked her why. It was frustrating to him to have to listen to her talk about herself like that when she had no reason to, in his eyes.

"I just wouldn't be," she'd say and then quickly continue their conversation down a different vein.

Sometimes she talk about the places that she was from, but very rarely. He had to ask, though, but she'd explain even though it seemed like it was hard for her. The words seemed like they hurt coming out of her mouth.

"I came from El Paso, Texas. That's where my mother migrated to. I've always loved the desert. It's beautiful there." Aqualad had never been to the desert so he made her explain what was so beautiful about it.

Terra seemed to have a hard time with explaining this too. She'd use her hands to explain the layout of the land and the way the beauty didn't come from the plant life but from the way the land was shaped and the sand and the moonlight.

He just couldn't understand this, though: "And it doesn't rain there that often and there's almost no standing water. How do the animals and plants survive?" Aqualad just couldn't picture this either. His whole life he had some sort of body of water near him, mostly saltwater but sometimes fresh, and couldn't see a place with no water.

Terra laughed at his expression. "The water is very deep in the ground so the plants have to dig their roots very deep in the ground. The animals either get their water from the plants or each other."

"Harsh."

She shook her head. "Not really. Just fair. They all come out at night, when the air is cooler. The desert comes alive at night. It's amazing. We'll have to go sometime," Terra said this last part casually. Aqualad's heart sped up.

Aqualad just decided to laugh. "I don't think that I could last for very long there, especially if not even the air has much water in it. There has to be some sort of water for me."

"We could always get a hotel with a pool if worst comes to worst," was her only reply.

Once she asked him if he'd ever thought about becoming a villain. To say the least this idea repulsed him, and he voiced this thought.

"I don't mean it like that!" she had protested. "I don't mean that we should go and be evil or anything. I was just asking if you ever thought about what it would be like not to be a hero… to be something other. If you think about it villains have more freedom."

"The only reason that they have more freedom is because they don't have a conscience or morals, Terra. They don't care about right from wrong, they just want what they want when they want it. Villains are selfish and are only in it for themselves. Very rarely does a group of them work, have you noticed that? The most successful ones work alone or occasionally have a partner." When he said this he could see Terra pale visibly in the moonlight. .

"What? Why do you look so scared?"

"I'm not scared. I just guess that I've never thought about it like that."

"Well haven't you? Trident, Slade, they are both alone and they are both menaces. They're also both very powerful and work by themselves. They don't want anyone else to work with them." He noticed how much he sounded like Aquaman when he said that.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said quickly and in such a tone that Aqualad didn't even try to understand why she would sound like that. She looked… frightened, that was the only thing that Aqualad could think of. He just didn't know why.

As time wore on Terra began looking more and more nervous, and more and more tired. He was worried that maybe they had been talking too much and for too long but when he voiced these things to Terra she had protested vehemently.

"No! It's not you, it's not," she'd insist and sometimes she seemed to prolong their conversations just so that she wouldn't have to go back into the Tower.

Aqualad couldn't figure out what the problem was. She didn't tell him anything bad about the other Titans so he knew it wasn't them. They didn't seem to have more trouble than usual in Jump City (he knew that because now and then he'd buy a Jump City Weekly just for kicks), in fact the crime rate seemed to be dropping now that the geomancer had come. Her eyes just looked haggard now sometimes, and he eventually stopped mentioning it to her because she'd then just get angry and fight with him for no reason.

On one of their last weeks together Terra had told him, "I'm so glad that we talk, Aqualad. If you weren't here I don't know what I'd do. I think I'd go just crazy!" Then Terra did something that she had never done before. She put her head on his shoulder and sighed contently.

Of course he had noticed that as their time together passed the closer they had sat to each other, but they hadn't ever showed affection like this. He realized how _right _it felt for her to put her head on his shoulder. She fit there.

On the first week of the fourth month Terra suddenly told him, "Thank you, for everything. Seriously. Everything. You have no idea how much you mean to me. Truly. You're the only person that I can trust. I have to tell you something, something important later, not tonight. But you can't tell anyone. Ever."

"I promise I won't tell anyone." He was worried by the urgency in her eyes.

"No, don't promise me anything," she told him, her eyes hard. "People never keep their promises." Aqualad didn't dare argue with her whenever she looked like that.

The second to last day that he had ever seen her she asked him, "Do you wish that we had ever fallen in love?"

"What?" Aqualad had realized that in the passing months that he had feelings for her that surpassed friendship, but this was going a bit fast, wasn't it? He wouldn't know, he had never felt like this about anyone. He had never had the bond he had with Terra with another person.

"I know it's stupid, but I wish we had. So much would have been different," she whispered. Terra seemed on the verge of tears. She swallowed loudly and Aqualad took her face in his hands.

"Don't be sad, please," he told her, because when she hurt he did too. It was almost as if they were two threads that were intertwined. Cut one and you cut both.

She laughed mirthlessly then. "I've got to go," it was early for the two of them to part, it couldn't have been past one o'clock but she left him anyway.

On the last day that he had saw her as "Terra" she was waiting for him on the beach as usual. But unlike usual she had tears running down her face in rivers that seemed to be carving their way into her skin.

"What? What is it?" he asked her. "What's wrong? Can I do something about it?" Aqualad hated feeling helpless, and if someone had hurt her like this then he would go find whoever it was and try to stop them.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong," she whispered and wiped the tears away. A sob began in her throat but she pushed that away too. "I'm sorry," she said, and she kissed him full on the mouth. In surprised Aqualad tensed up, but then he began kissing her back.

Time seemed to freeze. There was no awkwardness in their kiss, but also no sweetness. It wasn't how you're first kiss was supposed to be. The kiss they shared was full of urgency and need and despair. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her close to him so that every part of them was touching. Aqualad could taste the salt of her tears.

Then she suddenly broke away. "I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry." Every sentence she punctuated it with a kiss on his lips. He was far too shocked to respond when she attacked him like that.

"Please forgive me," she said as her parting words and then ran back inside the Tower. He had no idea that would be the last time that he would ever see her as herself ever again.

When he came back the next day she wasn't there. Nor was she there the day after, or the day after that, or the day after _that_.

Aqualad didn't understand why she wasn't there. Normally she would be there no matter what the weather was like. Nothing ever stopped her from getting out of the Tower.

For a wild second he wondered if she had found someone else, but then he pushed the thought away. She wouldn't do that to him, not without explaining it to him at.

He came everyday for a month, but she never showed. He was beginning to think that she didn't want to see him anymore when one day Beast Boy was in her place instead. Aqualad decided to show himself to him. Maybe he could explain where the hell Terra had been.

"Hey," Beast Boy greeted Aqualad.

"Hey," he responded.

Beast Boy didn't seem to be acting like his normal self. His natural optimism had been stripped away and the air around him was somber now instead of joking. It was a change, to say the least.

Aqualad wasn't sure what could have caused a change in his friend this drastic. "What happened?" he felt inclined to ask.

"Terra," was the only thing that Beast Boy said.

"Terra?" Aqualad leaned forward. "What happened to Terra?" He was unbelievably anxious to hear Beast Boy's answer. He had to know what had happened to her, and _now_.

"She's dead. No, not dead. She turned to stone," Beast Boy sighed. "But either way she's not alive anymore." His face crumpled suddenly.

Aqualad's heart stopped beating. Terra couldn't be _dead_. She couldn't be. It was impossible. He thought of her body wrapped in his arms and the way that her arms had felt wrapped around his neck. Terra had been so _alive_. He couldn't picture her dead. No way.

"So where is she now?" he asked urgently. Beast Boy didn't even think to wonderabout why Aqualad had cared so much. After all, they never should have met.

"She's in a cave down by the city," Beast Boy said. "Her statue's down there."

"Where's that? Can I get directions?"

For the first time Beast Boy looked at Aqualad strangely, but he gave him the directions anyway. As soon as he was done Aqualad swam to the city and walked to her cave.

Her statue was there, arms open wide. He couldn't figure out what she was doing to have ended up in a position like that.

But she really was stone, that much was obvious. This was definitely Terra. He could tell by the shape of her eyes and the placid expression that she wore. He realized that was the most peaceful that he had seen her wear recently, towards the end of their time together.

_TERRA. A TEEN TITAN. A TRUE FRIEND. _The plaque at her feet read.

A lump grew in his throat and he realized that he didn't want to look at her anymore. He walked out of the cave, vowing never to go back, and swam back to the Tower and hoped to whatever gods were out there that Beast Boy was still sitting on the shore. He was.

"What happened to her?" Aqualad demanded. "What happened to her to make her die like that?"

Beast Boy looked confused at Aqualad's interest, but he decided to answer anyway. "Well she, she um," Beast Boy had to stop and blink furiously before continuing. "She betrayed us. To Slade. She was working with him the whole time that she was here, after she came back, that is. She was trying to destroy us; they wanted to rule the city together. But in the end she couldn't do it. She died trying to save us all. Her powers had set off a volcano and she stayed behind to try and stop it. That's what happened." Beast Boy's voice had changed to a whisper towards the end of his speech.

Aqualad didn't want to believe Beast Boy, he really didn't. Terra couldn't have been like that, she couldn't have been evil the way that Beast Boy was describing her. It had to be impossible. But… but it explained so much he had to admit.

It explained why the last month that he had with her she always seemed anxious and jumpy and tired. It explained her strange question about villainy, and why she had reacted the way she had the last night that he had seen her.

"When did she do all this?"

"I think we found out about it the sixth of September." Aqualad nodded. That made sense. That was the first day that she hadn't been there waiting for him.

"Okay. Well I have to go so… I'll be seeing you around, maybe," Aqualad had to leave. He had to get out of here. He had to come to terms with this one way or another. Beast Boy just stared listlessly ahead and nodded. If he thought that Aqualad had acted strangely he hadn't said anything.

Those past three months with her… they had been magical, like a fairy tale, which had been the way that Terra described them the first time that he met her. She was everything he had wanted. He had never felt that way about a person before, and he wasn't sure that he ever would again.

She was beautiful, funny, unpredictable, a good listener, and above everything else… a mystery. He was sure that he hadn't known everything about her, and now he never would.

She was dead. She had kicked the bucket. She was gone, gone, gone. The words sounded strange in his head but he had to get over that. He was never going to see her again. The feeling wasn't completely unbearable or overwheleming, but it hurt, and hurt bad.

A year passed. He began thinking about her less and less as time wore on, but occasionally she would make her way into his dreams, or they would be in the middle of a meeting and while Bumblebee was talking he would suddenly see her face in his mind. When he had patrol occasionally he'd see a flash of blonde hair, but when the person turned around he realized that it wasn't her and his heart would sink.

His new team, and new city, provided plenty of distraction, though and that was just fine with him. He had wallowed in misery for a while until the Titans had asked him if he wanted to help with defeat the HIVE, which was a mission that he had taken readily and eagerly. He needed something to take his mind off things.

He then founded a second Teen Titans team, Titans East and they had Steel City to protect.

Those nights that the two of them shared soon became a secret that died with Terra, because there was no way that anyone else was going to know, ever. They wouldn't' understand, and Beast Boy in particular would not be too pleased with him if he told them that the two of them had known each other.

After the Brotherhood of Evil had been defeated Aqualad was pleased. He had just saved the world and was glad to be in Steel City again where everything was right on schedule and back to normal. Bumblebee and Speedy were arguing again (When were those two going to discover that they were in love with each other?) and Mas y Menos were on patrol duty. It was their turn and Aqualad was content to just lie back and turn up the volume of the TV so that he could drown out Bumblebee and Speedy. He was just about to recline on the couch when his communicator rang.

He was surprised, although it could have just been Mas or Menos wondering what was for dinner or something. They had been here for the beginning of the shouting match and knew that the others would probably be too preoccupied to pick up their communicators.

It was Beast Boy. "Uh, hey Beast Boy. What's up?" Aqualad asked, a bit wary. Beast Boy called about once a month or so, usually to tell a joke that he found hilarious (and one that Aqualad didn't think was so much) or just to talk when he was bored.

"Hey. Do you remember that girl I told you about a few months ago? Terra?"

Aqualad dropped his communicator in shock, but then picked it back up. "Yeah," he answered cautiously, still not sure what was going on, but he knew that it probably wasn't a good thing.

"Well… she's back."

"What?"

"Well, not back, _back_ but I think it's her." Beast Boy quickly explained how he had seen her and how he had been sure that it was Terra, but how she seemed not to remember anything. Aqualad had been on the edge of his seat the whole time.

As soon as Aqualad closed the communicator he got up off the couch. He was acting strange enough to pause the bickering of Bumblebee and Speedy. "What's wrong?" Bumblebee asked.

Aqualad felt as if he was in a daze. He barely heard her. "I'm probably going to Jump City tomorrow. Nothing's wrong." He went to his room and shut the door.

He flopped on his bed. She was back… but it might not even be her. He'd get to see her again… but she wouldn't remember anything. She might be someone else completely.

No. He didn't believe that, not for a second. He was going to see her, whether it was Terra or not and he didn't care. His heart could take the beating.

He was standing there in the middle of the street feeling strange. It was rare for him to be in Jump City at all, but being here for the reason was just unnatural. People didn't come back from the dead.

She hadn't been dead, though. She just turned to stone. As if there was much of a difference.

He was standing outside of the school that Beast Boy had told him that she went to and he was waiting impatiently. He had been waiting for a couple of hours now. He had barely been able to get out of the Tower this morning thanks to Bumblebee's questioning but now that he was he realized that he should have come later.

He had never felt so happy to hear a school bell ring. She was one of the first ones out, and she was walking with two girls. She suddenly threw her head back and laughed. He liked seeing that. It meant she was happy.

She looked the same that she had before, except now she was wearing a prep school uniform that before she probably wouldn't have been caught dead in before.

He walked over to her parting the students in him path. When she realized that he was coming towards her she looked up. He heard the girl on her left ask, "What's up with all these superheroes and you?" but he ignored her.

Terra, or whoever she was now, just sighed. "I'll take care of this one guys. See you at seven." She turned to him. She opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it again. She cocked her head and her eyebrows met in the middle. "You look very familiar. Did we know each other or something?"

"Or something," Aqualad replied.

**A/N: I know! I didn't see this coming either, believe me. It just popped into my head. But I'm extremely pleased with it. I had to wrestle with myself about whether or not I should post this, but I'm pretty pleased that I did. Aqualad was very refreshing to write. If the flames get too bad I'll just take it down, whatever. I enjoyed writing this so much it's not even funny. I know they were never a couple (ever) but hey, this is fan fiction and I can basically do whatever I want to, within reason and the law. I hope you enjoyed my totally crack(!) pairing.**

**Also, big hugs and thanks to guardyanangel who allowed me to use her back story for Al which is posted in her Teen Titans Encyclopedia: The Boys. It's a great story, so go check it out! **

**Thanks for reading this impossible story. :P**

**Love,**

**RFE **


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